Proof of noble birth or proof of ancestry meant evidence of representation of descent from 4, 8, 16, or more noble ancestors. Important primarily in German-speaking Europe, it was a normative instrument of exclusion intended to seal off an institutional or corporate/social inner sanctum from unwelcome intruders. To prove noble birth in the form of a so-called Aufschwörung confirming an individual’s nobility or elevating him to the nobility, the individual being tested and the witnesses had to swear to the individual’s descent – nobility and legitimate birth of his the ancest…